Dreaming up interesting hardware peripherals has been a challenge for decades now. Some, like the Xbox Kinect, are cool but bungled in execution; others, like the Wii remote, are gimmicky but capture an audience anyway. Innovation is not enough when it comes to add-ons – the experience needs to be exceptional as well. And Sony may be onto something with PlayStation VR.
Virtual reality has always been a concept with an inherent intrigue to it – it's something that we've read about in sci-fi novels for eons. But now it's, ahem, a reality; virtual reality was absolutely everywhere at PAX East. With at least two dozen booths dedicated to the fledgling technology, it's fascinating to see just how far the format has come in a short period of time. And while it's not due out until October, PlayStation VR is definitely leading the charge – from a mainstream consumer perspective at least.
And PAX East proved that developers are backing VR hard. Dozens of games were on display across all three commercial headsets, and there are hundreds more either already out or in development – the future looks bright. Of course, this was also true of Kinect and PlayStation Move when the peripherals were backed hard, and neither managed to cultivate a particularly compelling library. Sony needs to nurture the cream of the crop for its platform.
Here are two observations we had coming out of last week's convention:
Experiences
VR's success is going to stem from meaningful experiences. Both the Kinect and PlayStation Move did have compelling titles in their libraries, but they were woefully underused. However, there's potential for PlayStation VR to offer more exciting experiences than both of the above add-ons combined.
The tech is so immersive that it's hard not to be excited – as evidenced by several other people that we spoke to at the show. But we're still very much in the novelty phase, and Sony needs to ensure that beyond that it has compelling games or experiences in the pipeline that are going to want to keep people coming back to their headset time and time again.
This will be the real challenge long-term.
Improvement
Ensuring that said meaningful experiences launch on PlayStation VR will be tough, but there's one advantage that the peripheral has in its locker: it's not hard to imagine any game being improved by the immersion that VR enables.
Picture playing No Man's Sky or Alien: Isolation on the headset. We must stress that these games aren't confirmed, but it's easy to imagine yourself in the Sevastopol Station, peeking around corners or crawling through vents. The same is true of Hello Games' hotly anticipating space-faring sim – the sense of discovery would feel immense in VR.
Unlike motion controls, then, the peripheral lends itself to immersive experiences easily – Sony just needs to ensure that they get made.
Conclusion
Personally, we reckon that they will. PlayStation VR is still in its infancy, of course, but there are so many games in production for the platform – and VR in general – that the support from the wider development community appears to be in place. If that continues, then we have no doubt that the medium will reach its full potential.
VR's off to a strong start, but the exciting thing is that we still have oh so far to go.
Comments 8
One thing that I think would be great would be for Sony to have VR cameras set up at basketball or football games so it feels like youre sitting in the front row. It would be incredible if they could do that
I can see its attraction but still have concerns over 'health' related issues. So far, the only PSVR game that really stands out for me is RIGS but I could see that working on a standard TV set - just not quite so emmersive. Other games look more 'novelty' or basic. Golem for example looks slow and cumbersome, stacking 'blocks' doesn't appeal, on rails shooters look lacking too - reminds me more of 'House of Dead' but with a headset on.
Part of the issue I see with VR at the moment is that the 'power' of consoles is split between the VR image and high frame rates and processing all the motion meaning you can't develop games like 'CoD' or Battlefield type games - size, scale etc and put these into the VR space - yet.Even with PS4k, I can see limitations. I also think its 'limited' to the type of game you play. I know there are 3rd person games - I have seen one cartoon style platformer but that seems 'odd' for a VR experience. It seems far better for the first person view - not that there is a limited selection of these. Shooters and 'some' RPG's, racing/flying games often have 'cockpit' views but I do wonder how 'disorientating' something like 'Mirrors Edge' would feel - seeing all that movement but being seated for example.
VR to me is not something I am ready to invest in - yet. The software so far hasn't appealed and whilst I can see the potential, most games I feel are beyond the capability of both the headset and the console - primarily because of all the extra processing these games require specific to VR which non-VR games can use to enhance the experience.
I can see VR having a lot of use outside of gaming so it will be interesting to see how this technology develops. As I said, I can't see myself jumping in at this stage but I haven't ruled out the possibility of jumping in at some point - maybe with the next gen versions...
I can't wait for PSVR, for the last 3 weeks i've been really enjoying gear VR, I don't normally buy mobile games, but some of the VR ones are great, So with the power of playstation behind them I think we will see and experience some stunning games. If sony can get some demo units out in the wild, people will be convinced. The future of gaming is VR!
Already got mine preordered and I have a camera and two move controllers waiting! October can't come fast enough, but for now I am waiting on June 21st and my limited edition No Man's Sky.
Its already sold out in some if not all places. They need to start marketing hard on the software front.
Sitting here,waiting for October.
Not sure how hotly anticipated No Man's Sky is anymore. Hotly marketed maybe, but each time I read an article about it it feels like at least half the comments are from people no longer very interested in it.
While I pre-ordered a PSVR and I am excited for it, I am not sure 3d first person games where you have to actually move in the world, will work very well.
Having watched reviews of many, many VR games, most games that allow you to (free) move in the VR world, do so by a teleport mechanic. You point a grenade-style aiming reticle and press a button to "move" to that location. In games made for semi-walkable units like the Vive, you have a small area that you can move around in, and the teleport mechanic moves that area.
If we cannot find a great solution to movement in VR space (teleport mechanics are not a solution, and classic analogs are passable at best) then certain standard experiences will not translate well to VR.
I am more excited for passive, on rails, or ship/vehicle based experiences.
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